Invest in experiences, not things

Bryce Canyon and Slot Canyon Hikes

October 11, 2015by Nate |

Friday, September 4th, we made it to Tropic, Utah, a small town outside Bryce Canyon National Park. We met up with Natalie’s dad, Ted, and his wife, Pam, for a weekend of hiking. Bryce Canyon is known for it’s famous rock formations called Hoodoos. They’s tall thin spires of rock that go up from the base rock and are caused by erosion from wind, rain, ice and snow.

The rock formation known as a hoodoo

We hiked the Navajo and Peekaboo trails in Bryce Canyon. The Navajo trail leads down a series of switchbacks.

Hiking down in to the hoodoos

Farther down the trail

At the bottom of the switchback trail there were big straight trees reaching towards the sunlight above

At the bottom of the switchbacks we hiked farther along the Navajo loop to the Peekaboo trail that took us back up for another view of the hoodoos in the valley.

Partway through our hike we stopped for a photo near the rim

Sully took a break during our hike

Riding with Grandpa Ted

Panorama of the beautiful view

Through a tunnel to continue our hike

More gorgeous views

Another beautiful view

Sully wore his cool kid sunglasses for some of the hike

Climbing down and hiking around was just too much for Sully

Sully passed out after lunch

We found some trail markers that said if you take a medallion rubbing of 3 emblems or photos to the rangers station you get a free gift at the ranger’s station.

First Emblem

And the third

After our hike was over we found 4 different markers and I took the pictures to the ranger’s station and we all got stickers saying, “I hiked the hoodoos!” The weather was perfect and cool and we had a great time in one of our new favorite National Parks.

The next day we weren’t all worn out from hiking in Bryce, so we did another hike on Ted’s hiking bucket list.

We drove about an hour down the winding dirt road from Escalante to the trailhead of Peekaboo and Spooky Gulches to explore the slot canyons. We were really far out in the boonies.

Hiking down with Sully

Large stone cairns marked the trail

The entrance to Peekaboo Slot Canyon starts out by going straight up

In Peekaboo

Preparing to go around the next bend

A fun father daughter hike through the rocks

Heading up and in

This was Sully’s longest hike. It worked out for him because we were really slow so there was lots of time for him to climb around on rocks and sit or explore.

Hello hikers!

I took some creative upper routes

Teamwork was necessary to navigate the slot canyons. At one point there was a straight drop 10 feet down. We found the easiest way to get down was for me to slide down first, and then everyone else slid down a rock onto my shoulders. Then they were lowered down to the ground. Yes, my father-in-law was sitting on my shoulders!

Sully found a spot, just his size

Hiking out of Peekaboo

Inside the water carved out different shapes in the rock based on the rock density

High and narrow

Sully liked to “hide” and roar at us as we passed by his little play caves

Sully hiked under the arches while we squatted and crawled

A short break

Tight quarters

Sully was just the right size to walk everywhere

Squeezing through

Natalie liked the hike, but got a little claustrophobic in Spooky.

On our way back up and out

Sully helped Grandpa Ted stretch it out after the hike

All the hiking wore Sully out!

On Monday, with our weekend hiking rendezvous over, we said goodbye to Ted and Pam. As they headed home, we headed to a new campground to spend the night on our way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park.

Hi! We’re Nate, Natalie and Sully and here’s our plan:

Our mantra is "Invest in experiences, not things." Our goal is to travel and experience everything life has to offer before we get too old. To meet that goal, we bought a boat and lived aboard while outfitting her for coastal cruising. We 'cut the dock lines' in November 2014 and now we are heading south along the coast from San Diego to Mexico! This blog is to help us remember our trip and so our friends and family can follow along on our journey.